Hold On To Me
by mushsroomsandcucumbers
Summary: The Bombs rain down from the sky and Gale Hawthorne needs to escape, but there is something holding him back.
1. Chapter 1

**Please enjoy and review if you have the time :)**

**Disclaimer I do not own the Hunger Games or any of they characters because they belong to Suzanne Collins. **

I feel the sharp pain in my knee before I look down and see the cause. Posy's little nails dig in to them, constantly trimmed yet always sharp, as she stares, eyes glued to the screen in front of her.

The screen that shows Katniss, poised and ready to shoot. My eyes trail back to the wire, twisted around the arrow resting in her bow.

_What is she doing?_

At this point nothing Katniss does can really surprise me. She's determined to get Peeta through the games, I can see that.

I don't know why.

But she's lost him now, the blood flows freely from the cut on her arm and I can see the dizziness and confusion in her eyes.

I can see them suddenly become clear.

And she lets go.

The arrow lands, right where she wanted it.

Where she must have known it should go.

Because the whole arena explodes. The bang causes both me and Posy to jump as my eyes search the screen in a panic.

I can't see her.

A hovercraft suddenly appears from nowhere, reaching down to retrieve something.

Katniss.

I see her body lie, limp in the metallic arms of the claw that lifts her. But she's not dead.

She's not dead.

I can almost feel the breaths of my sister, quick and fast as if their not able to catch. I reach for her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Across the room my mother sits, frozen also as she stares at the screen, no doubt wondering what the hell is going on.

What the hell is going on?

What the hell just happened?

And then comes the blackness. The screen switches itself of along with the electric light bulb that hangs above us. I jump from my seat, ready to take action.

Because this isn't right. They would never cut out the electricity in the games. When they're on it's the only time electricity can be guaranteed. So something must be wrong.

The subtle rumbling confirms my suspicions as I turn to face my mother.

"Come on," I say, desperately trying to keep calm, "We need to get out of here. Now!"

If they have any questions they don't ask them. I don't know how I know but I do and right now I need to act on that. Rory gathers up Posy in his arms, my mother grabs Vick's hand and we race out the door.

My legs take over, leading my family to the safest place I know. The woods. We reach the fence in record time. I don't hesitate as I hold the bottom of the fence up, ordering Posy to crawl through first, then Vick, Rory and my mother. Their eyes widen as they turn, staring at the sky behind me.

A line of perhaps a dozen hovercraft head towards out district. Even in the dark I can make out the Capitol symbol printed out on the side. They're almost here.

Almost about to unleash hell on us.

I can feel it.

"Come on Gale!" Posy tugs at my trousers through the wire fence. I look down to see the fear in her eyes and it nearly breaks my heart.

That's when the first bomb hits.

The vibrations it sends through the ground nearly knock me over, it obviously wasn't far from us.

"Gale.." My mother begins but I cut her off.

" Mum, I have to go back. What about Prim and Mrs Everdeen?"

"I'm coming with you." The voice comes from Rory, standing as defiantly as a twelve-year-old can.

"No!" Shout both me and my mother in unison, but Rory refuses to give in.

"No Gale, I'm coming. That's it." Before I can say anything he's crawled under the fence and standing next to me . I go to protest but mother shake her head so I give up.

"Vick, look after Posy. I love you all ok. Head as far into the woods as you can, I'll find you."

My mother nods and turns and I do the same. I hate leaving them like this but I have no choice. Looking ahead I can see the first bomb has struck the town. Another huge vibration rocks the ground but we keep running til we reach the Everdeen's. Both of them stand on their front porch, anxiously staring at the sky. They don't seem to notice us until we're right in front of them and their eyes widen.

"Rory take them to the woods." I say before they have a chance to speak. "Find mum ok? Promise me you'll take care of them yeah?" I'm panicking. I'm really panicking because it's like I'm saying goodbye. Rory nods. Understanding and if he's sad he doesn't shown it as he grabs Prim's hand, holding on to it for dear life and leading both her and her mother away.

By now most people have emerged from their huts. So I run along, yelling at them to run to the fence as I pass, pointing frantically in that direction. Some of them understand and go straight away but others, run back into their houses.

That's their problem.

I'm running and yelling and my legs are aching as I head towards the fire that's now blazing in the town. Another bomb blasts and I'm nearly knocked of my feet.

"Gale." A voice yells out to me from behind and I recognise it as being Thom's. "Gale!" He yells again before I turn around. I can't help but be glad at the sight of him.

"We have to get people out Thom, I've warned most of the seam but there are people in town!" I waste no time in explaining. Another explosion rocks by body and Thom grips on to me for support.

"No Gale! It's too dangerous, we have to go now!"

"Thom! I have to try yeah?" He signs and looks at the ground, no doubt frustrated. I can't say I blame him.

"Alright Gale. But I'm coming to." I nod my approval and we take of again, struggling to keep upright against the explosions that are becoming more frequent.

The heat from the town reaches us before we get there, reinforcing what a bad idea this is.

We reach the square and I have to stop for a moment to take in the site. Almost every house is on fire. I can practically smell the burning flesh. Just as I'm beginning to think there's no point, there can be no survivors from this I notice a handful of people huddled in the middle of the square. Their blonde hair and blue eyes seem to stand out a mile away. Some of the are crying, all of them look hopeless and lost. A lot of them are children.

"Delly?" I hear Thom question from beside me. He is off running towards the group before I can question him. When I reach them Thom is already there. Another bomb goes off. The seam this time.

"We have to get out of here Gale. Now." I nod in agreement and he orders the people the group to stay close and follow us. He grabs Delly's hand, I remember her from school and were off, frantically dodging the bits of burning building that fly towards us. More bombs come but we manage to avoid them until we reach the fence. I turn to face the group. Tiredness, pain and grief are etched on their faces. This must be it. This must all the survivors there are from the town. Everyone else must be either trapped or dead.

Damn.

There's barely 20 of them.

I watch as they crawl through the fence, one by one.

Fighting to hold back their tears because everyone they love must be dead.

And then a face flashes in my mind. Emphasised by the bomb that drops in that moment.

And a single name.

Madge.

I don't know why. I don't know why she has to enter my mind now, after years of ignorance.

But.

But Madge.

Suddenly I'm running. I hear Thom yelling at me from behind but I ignore him. Focusing simply of the thump of my feet against the ground against the thump of the bombs. The heat and the exertion cause me to sweat heavily. Most of the district is alight now.

And still the bombs fall.

A couple of times I'm close. Once a bomb landed a few metre in front of me.

But, by some miracle I'm not dead.

And I keep running.

I seem to be driven by something, I don't know what but something keeps my feet moving toward that house.

Towards her.

And hell, I don't even know why.

As I reach the bottom of the small hill that sits underneath the mansion owned by the air I stop.

Because the house is burning. Even from here I can see bits collapsing of it. It must have been one of the first places they hit.

But he's the mayor.

I thought he would have been spared.

I though _she _would have been spared.

But she hasn't. She must be dead now. If she isn't she must be close.

There's no point. I'm going to turn around now and go back.

Back to my family.

Dammit that's what I should do.

But guess what?

I don't.

I'm running again, feet pounding against the hill til I reach the top.

And when I do...

The house is mess. Most of the left side has collapsed. My eyes focus on a body, slumped over one of the burning beams.

I'm frozen.

But I force myself to move. As I get closer I make out what's left of the smouldering body.

And.

And its not her.

I don't know who it is but I don't have time to think about it before I'm running toward the front door, kicking it down and rushing inside, not even taking the time to notice the immense show of wonderful wealth burning around me . The first think I see is the huge staircase in front of me. It goes up in one wide case of stairs before splitting into two others that seem to curl around. Bits of it have collapsed and like everything else its burning but that doesn't stop me running through the flames.

I have no idea which room is Madge's and there are so many door. My confusion is hushed by the sound of frantic sobs.

I don't hesitate before running towards them. They come from a room on the left side of the building.

The side that's collapsing. I finally find the room, using the sobs to guide me. The entrance is blocked by a long burning piece of wood but I can still see through it.

In the middle of the room is a huge bed. A single figure lies on it.

Burning.

My hearts sinks but the sobs are still there and I strain to look around the huge room.

Trapped by flames she sits, huddled in the corner, sobbing these horrible choked sobs that must be a mixture of grief and the smoke that's entered her system. I suddenly become aware of how much smoke I've inhaled and begin to cough, then wretch.

The smell of burning people doesn't help.

Pulling my self together I reach for my shirt and pull it too my nose. It's soaked in sweat thank goodness.

Slowly, very slowly I slide onto my stomach, wriggling under the burning beam. I'm not small enough and flames lick at my back, painfully burning me but I hold it in.

"Madge!" I yell. She doesn't hear me.

"Madge!" I shout again louder, as loud as I can go with my burning throat. Her head snaps up as she takes me into account.

"You're gonna have to run Madge alright? " I ask and she nods. I watch as she tries to stand up but fails and falls back. The flames grow more each second and I can feel the building creaking. Again she tries to stand, spotting a small gap in the flames she stumbles towards it. I reach out to pull her but the floor boards in front of her collapse and she stumbles back.

"Ok. Madge you're gonna have to jump. Do you understand me?" Again she nods but I can see any confidence she had disappear in her deep blue eyes as she stares at the now huge gap between us.

"I'm gonna catch you ok? I promise."

She looks at me. Looks straight into my eyes with such a concentration it scares me. She must be satisfied with what she finds because she jumps.

And I catch her.

My hands close around her small waist as I pull her too me. For a moment she looks relieved but then her eyes wonder to the burning body and I see that grief that I have seen far too often tonight enter her eyes. I reach up and cup her chin, forcing her to look at me instead, trying to convey to her everything with my eyes because my throat is burning too much to speak.

We need to get out of here. Now.

"Your mum?" I manage to choke out and she nods. "Sorry."

Her eyes go to the floor again.

"Come on." I cough and push her gently toward the door. She doesn't need to be told what to do as she crawls under the beam before waiting for me to follow. The flames attack my back again but I ignore them.

I grab her hand and we stumble towards the stairs. I show her what to do with her shirt and she copies me.

The stairs have collapsed even more now but parts are still intact. With each step I pray that the ground beneath my feet doesn't crumble and it doesn't.

But Madge does.

I don't even realise she's falling until I no longer feel her hand in mine. I spin around to see her collapsed on the stairs behind me. Without thinking I gather her up in my arms and make the rest of the way out of the house .

The fresh air greets me as I rush outside. The bombs are still falling however, and the district is still burning. I have to fight down the urge to gag.

Quickly I glance down at the blonde in my arms. Black soot covers her body and hair. She must be burnt but there no time for me to check now as I continue to run.

It seem to take forever before I reach the fence. The smoke and burns have weakened me and my arms ache from holding Madge but I push myself forwards. Thom is there waiting anxiously on the other side, his arms wrapped around Delly.

His eyes widen as he see's me and the girl in my arms.

"Seriously Gale? You went back for the mayor's daughter of all people?" I ignore his remark and pass Madge to him under the fence before following myself. Gathering her up in my arms again I turn to him.

"Where is everyone?"

"They all caught up with your family, mostly everyone's fine. They were worried sick about you Gale it's been an hour for goodness sake."

An hour? It felt like days.

"Sorry." I mumble, my throat still raw.

"I had to come back and wait, your mum forced me. Why did you it Gale?" He asks as we walk.

"I don't know. " I answer. Because I don't. Because I haven't got the faintest clue why I went back for the mayor's daughter.

But I did.

And I'm glad.

**More soon hopefully if you liked it. I hope you did :) Please review if you have the time. Sorry for any grammatical errors or misspellings :( or any awkward phrases. I used mum because I am from the UK sorry :)**


	2. Remembering

**A/N: Hello :) I'm really sorry for the wait. Things have been busy but... yeah. I was determined to do this.**

**A little warning, this story is cheesy, really quite cheesy and fluffy :)**

**I hope you enjoy :) Please review if you have the time :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Hunger Game or any characters. ****They belong to Suzanne Collins :)**

I wake with a scream. A silent yet evil scream that tears through my veins, slicing through every part of my body. My eyes open slowly to let in the blinding sunlight that fills the air around me, and the leafs and the trees...

Trees?

My body shakes silently as I begin to panic, my mind running through every worst possible reason that might explain why I am here. _Where is here? _

Confused, I struggle to sit up.

"Mum!" I hear a voice calling from somewhere nearby, "MUM!"

"Yes Posy I'm coming!"Posy? I recognise the name, isn't she...

"Mum! The girl with yellow hair is waking up!" Yellow hair? I have to stop my self smirking at the comment. Gradually I continue to sit up enough to see a very tired looking woman with dark hair and seam eyes almost jogging towards me. My head turns to see a little girl, sharing the same features, perhaps 5 years old, sitting beside me, her eyes wide with wonder.

"No, no no, you shouldn't sit up Madge, you'll be too weak." She says breathlessly as she reaches me. Her arms go out to push me gently back down.

"No, I'm fine really," I protest but my voice is hoarse and every word feels like sand paper in my throat. The woman apparently notices and turns to face the little girl that must be her daughter.

"Posy go get Miss Madge some water please." She orders and the child smiles obediently and goes. Once she returns I sit up to take some small sips of the water, before I start gulping it down in huge amounts. The relief it brings is amazing and I already feel a hundred times better.

"Thank you." I say to the both of them before getting down to business. "Um... Where am?" I ask hesitantly, not wanting to appear rude. The woman smile sadly, glancing quickly at the round.

"Posy, can you go fetch Gale please? Tell him where we are then go play with Prim ok?" Again the girl nods obediently before running off. Gale! I knew I recognised Posy's name, she's Gale's little sister! That means this must be...

"Mrs Hawthorne?," I ask hesitantly but the other woman cuts me off, "Please, Call me Hazelle."

"Thank you, Hazelle." I say and smile. Gale comes up behind his mother and kneels down. Tiredness is etched onto his face just as much as his mothers and sadness radiates from him.

"I think I better leave you to it." says Hazelle dismissing herself. She struggles to stand up again and Gale helps her. They exchange another sad smile before she walks off.

"Are you okay?" he begins and I can see he is asking out of real concern, though I'm not completely sure why.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lie. Everything hurts. "Where are we?"

"We're in the woods."

"The woods?" I ask feeling stupid. "In district 12? There are no woods in district 12?"

"No. No were not in District 12. There is no more district 12."

"What?" I nearly shout. What the hell is going on? "What happened?"

"Shhh, calm down Madge. Don't you remember?"

"No. No I don't remember. The last thing I remember is Katniss firing that arrow in the Games?" I watch silently as his face falls. I swear I can see tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

"When Katniss fired that arrow, all the lights in the district went out," He begins, eyes on the ground. "I took my family to the fence because I sort off knew what was coming." He sighs heavily before continuing. "They dropped bombs Madge. Hundreds and hundreds of bombs. They must have started with your house, then the town and eventually the seam. Me and Thom, we tried to get as many people out as possible." His voice slows as he looks up. Eyes fixed on mine.

"Madge... I... I'm sorry. Madge... Your parents they... they didn't make it. I'm so sorry."

Once when I was younger, I thought it would be a good idea to climb the tree in my garden. It didn't work. I slipped and fell. How I felt then is how I feel now. Like someone just threw me from a tree and then sat on me.

I can't breathe.

I can't breathe.

Mum? Dad?

They're dead.

But it isn't sinking in. I can't believe it. They can't be dead.

My body suddenly becomes numb, so I struggle to feel every sob as they begin to slowly rack my body, smashing my ribs and crushing my heart. Hot tears pour down my cheeks as I sob and sob and sob. I'm so numb I barely feel Gale arms wrapping around me, hugging me too him. My ears find the sound of his heart and I focus on it, timing my sobs with each beat so each wave of remembrance hurts a little less as it all comes flooding back.

All of it.

The bombs, the fire.

My mother, burning slowly in the furnace that was her bed.

My own burns that suddenly become apparent.

And my father...

I didn't even _see _what happened to him...

I don't know whether it's because of exhaustion, or my body's way of preserving myself but eventually I fall asleep.

When I wake again I'm alone. For a moment I forget. And then I remember. I try to fight back the tears that begin to form but it's no use, another torrent of tears stream begin to fall though it's a miracle that I even have any left.

Once I get my sobs under control again I slowly begin to sit up, sniffing desperately. My skin feels like its on fire but I continue to look around. What looks like a camp has been set up around. People around me sit and stare into space. I see my own grief mirrored in their expressions and suddenly I feel incredibly guilty. Forcing myself to shut up I sit up fully, searching for someone I know but there's no one around.

I have to fight back tears again as I stand up, not only because of grief but because of the pain I'm in. Eventually I do it and manage to put one foot in front of the other one. Ignoring the pain that tears through my body, I dodge the grief striken people as I make my way towards the centre of the camp. It's obvious that most people here are from the seam. The number of people with dark hair and grey eyes overwhelm me.

In the far corner of the camp I spot a group of blonde headed wisps huddled together. They must be from town but surely there's more of them than this? I slowly being to make my way over to them. Most of them are in tears and staring at the ground. As I near them one of the girls looks up, cheeks stained with tears and her arm around a younger boy, about eight perhaps. It takes me a moment but I recognise her. Delly Cartwright. She offers a small sad smile as I approach I can't help but smile back. Delly was always the one smiling in school, always so nice to everyone. Gently she lifts the young boys head and stands up, making her way over too me. Before I can say anything she pulls me into a tight hug.

"Come on," she whispers in my ear, "Let's go for a walk." With that she takes my hand and leads me deeper into the woods.

I've never been in the woods before. I would always look at them from my balcony and wonder what it was like out there. What it would feel like to be truly free. I know its wrong. I had everything that I could possibly hope for yet I wanted more. Not just for me but for everyone.

They are more beautiful than I imagined. I wonder how anyone could have thought of them as dangerous. I've never seen so much green, so many flowers.

After a good ten minutes of silence, Delly speaks up.

"You lost your parents?" She asks, slowly, carefully. Tear well up again and my voice catches when I answer.

"Yes."

"Me too."

"I'm so sorry." I say. Because I am. I know how it feels.

"I'm sorry too. It hurts doesn't it?" She becomes more and more choked up and I'm really struggling to keep the tears at bay.

"Yeah, it hurts so much it feels like I can't breath. But it must be worse for you. Your brother?"

"Yeah. Yeah I suppose. He's just eight you know. He's old enough to understand but not quite understand. Whatever innocence he had left, it's all gone now." She stops, her body overtaken by the sobs she's struggled to keep in. It's not long before I join her. Soon enough were both sitting on the floor of a forest that we've never been in. Crying tears that we never thought we'd have to cry.

The memories flood back, images of my mother burning flash in my brain and I have to do something. I have to stop it. So I speak. Anything to stop this.

"How... how did you get out?" I sniff.

"I managed to get me and my brother out of the house and we made it to the town centre. There were other people there and none of us had really any idea what to do. Then we see two more people coming towards us. It was Thom and Gale. Thom, he called out my name and they saw us and they got us out." She sniffs sadly.

I nod. Unable to think of what to say that could comfort her.

"He went back for you, you know?"

"Hmm?" I ask, confused.

"Gale." She explain,s "We were out. We thought there was no one left that we could possibly get out. The bombs were getting worse and worse. We were about to leave but he stopped. Like it suddenly clicked and he ran the other way. He went back for you. Knowing it was very likely that he could die."

My head lifts up suddenly, astounded really. That he would do that for me.

_He would do that for me?_

"I... I have to thank him."

_Why would he do that for me?_

I'm so busy thinking about it that I don't notice the subtle growling, the quiet footsteps. I don't notice til its on top of me, pinning me down with its paws. I hear Delly scream beside me but all I can concentrate on is claws of what must be a wild dog in my shoulders.

I can't help but gasp as the sharp pints pierce my skin. I brace myself for the feel of its teeth on my face but it doesn't come. The dog suddenly collapses on top me and I'm being crushed under its weight until its yanked off me. I should be fine but I can't quite catch my breath and my vision is blurred.

Someone appears in front of me, telling me to keep calm and breath slowly but I can't quite stop. My mother and father flash in my mind and there's so much fire and...

It's Gale. Gale's in front of me and he's hugging me to him and holding me and telling me to keep calm and I hear his heart again and I focus on it and slowly, very slowly I calm down.

"Shhh... Shhh. It's ok. It's ok you're ok." He reasures me. Out of the corner of my eye I see someone I assume to be Thom doing more or less the same to Delly.

My breaths become more and more steady as he strokes my hair. "It's ok. It's ok."

And for now, it is.

**There you go :) I told you it was cheesy :) Please review :)**


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